[TusharK]

Leaked images of the Kia Picanto facelift have surfaced online.



The images suggest that the new Picanto is likely to get revised headlights with four LED daytime running lights surrounding what appears to be a projector head lamp. The car has Kia's 'tiger nose' grille and a dual-tone front bumper that has large vents on either side and silver inserts.



At the rear, the Picanto gets new LED tail lights, a redesigned rear bumper and chrome exhaust tip. The car is riding on dual-tone alloy wheels and has a shark fin antenna.



The Kia Picanto shares its platform with the Hyundai i10. In the international market, the car is offered with a 1.0-litre, 3-cylinder naturally aspirated petrol engine, a 1.0-litre, 3-cylinder turbo-petrol and a 1.25-litre, 4-cylinder petrol unit. The 1.0-litre engines gets a 5-speed manual gearbox, while the 1.25-litre unit is available with a 4-speed automatic option.



The Kia Picanto was showcased at the 2018 Auto Expo. At present, there are no plans to launch this model in India.

Source

Link to Team-BHP News

[Tassem]

Is it just me or does it look like Kia got lazy and slapped a body kit on an i10? This looks like it's the GT Line. With all the red bits n bobs. Busy front reminds me of the quirky 2018 Civic.

I really wish they had put more into this design. IMHO the outgoing design below looked better.

[Mat095]

Looks like the GT Line from the pictures. I really like the Kia design language, clean and sedate unlike what Hyundai is doing with too many sharp lines in their new cars.

I don’t get why Kia is not bringing this and the Rio to the Indian market when they can easily fetch good numbers for Kia. I had the chance to see it in person during the 2018 Auto Expo in Delhi, the interiors are a notch above the Santro and Tiago which are likely to be Picanto’s main competition. This would be like a breath of fresh air in the B1 segment, eagerly waiting for this.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Mat095

I don’t get why Kia is not bringing this and the Rio to the Indian market when they can easily fetch good numbers for Kia.

Small cars = small profits. Also, the hatchback segment is terribly crowded. I doubt Kia would have sold 10,000+ Picantos the way they are selling 10,000 Seltos every month.

That said, I do feel we will see Kia hatchbacks in the future. They're clearly working on a "top down" strategy, starting with expensive cars first, then moving down.

[roadrunner_nv]

Originally Posted by GTO

Small cars = small profits. Also, the hatchback segment is terribly crowded. I doubt Kia would have sold 10,000+ Picantos the way they are selling 10,000 Seltos every month.

That said, I do feel we will see Kia hatchbacks in the future. They're clearly working on a "top down" strategy, starting with expensive cars first, then moving down.

Bingo! Kia will not take the battle to Maruti in this segment where they are undisputed kings. The compact SUV segment is where they will battle it out. This segment is gathering volumes as it forms the preferred "upgrade" segment.
I also expect that Kia will launch something in the sedan space competing with the Octavia and Civic.

[volkman10]

More of the Picanto face-lift!









Link

[evoker]

The front reminds me of the Celerio. I think it would sell well if they price it around the same price as the lower variants of the Nios. Doubt it would be possible though.

[Venkatesh]

Kia Picanto First Look

https://youtu.be/xmV0E0WvuqA

[turbo]

Originally Posted by evoker

The front reminds me of the Celerio. I think it would sell well if they price it around the same price as the lower variants of the Nios. Doubt it would be possible though.

It's literally at santro with a kia badge (like Seltos is a Creta with a kia badge). Why would anyone pay that much?

It doesn't even deserve the price of the non-nios i10. (formerly known as grand i10)

10k over the santro is the best they can afford to charge. And boy will it be a hit at that price.

[Bibendum90949]

Originally Posted by turbo

It's literally at santro with a kia badge (like Seltos is a Creta with a kia badge). Why would anyone pay that much?

Seltos is not a Creta with a Kia badge by any stretch of the imagination. It's a truly global model. It's just that the siblings compete each other in the same space.

It's certainly not the Vento- Rapid, Duster - Terrano sort of siblings. Yes, they do have a common parts bin.

[turbo]

Originally Posted by Bibendum90949

Seltos is not a Creta with a Kia badge by any stretch of the imagination. It's a truly global model. It's just that the siblings compete each other in the same space.

It's certainly not the Vento- Rapid, Duster - Terrano sort of siblings. Yes, they do have a common parts bin.

Same engine, same chassis. Same electricals.

Maybe different electricals, different looks, and at max different suspension (doubtful).

They are like rapid vento. Rapid also had a different suspension to the vento (official team bhp review was praise for the rapid, while they found the vw to be too stiff)

[Bibendum90949]

All I'm trying to convey is that to say Seltos is a clone to new Creta is not quite right. I did say that they share a common parts bin to leverage the synergies and thus saving cost.

The fact that Seltos existed as a global product much before the new Creta was in the works underlines my point that Seltos can't be called a Creta with a Kia badge. The ground work which Kia did for Seltos specifically for Indian market is well documented. Seltos was built from scratch and it's a brilliantly engineered car. I'm not sure if we can say that about new Creta in the same breath - same platform, electricals notwithstanding.

[JojyKerala]

I'll be very happy if Kia brings the Picanto to our shores. Or even better, the Rio.

13 or 14 years ago, I had rented a Kia Rio in Wisconsin. At a signal, I was wrongly hit by a lady in a Honda Element and dragged for about 100 meters. The car's damage was mainly on the driver's side and it's a miracle I survived.

It was a snowy day and I called 911 immediately. They took close to 2 hours just to arrive at the spot while I detained the lady. After this, I drove the badly damaged Kia to the rental and explained the situation to them. I remember sitting in a peculiar position because the entire driver's side had caved in.

Keep in mind that Kia's brand value in the USA was pretty bad back then. And it still protected me and my wife in snowy conditions while being hit by a sturdy car such as the Element. It's no wonder that Kia cars are doing so well in India.

[Bibendum90949]

Originally Posted by JojyKerala

And it still protected me and my wife in snowy conditions while being hit by a sturdy car such as the Element. It's no wonder that Kia cars are doing so well in India.

Kia still has some catching up to do to reach the levels of German build quality though. I don't mean to say it's bad. No doubt they have raised the bar over the years.

Just try lifting the hood of the Seltos with one hand. It's pretty heavy and laborious to make it stand. They're slowly getting there.

[BashfulKlutz]

I guess if Kia was to launch the Picanto in India, all they'd have to do is "tune" the 1.0 and 1.25 litre engines for our market's "fuel quality", and perhaps use slightly thicker cylinder liners for the 1.25 to bring it under the 1.2 litre limit to avail some "tax savings". I'd be glad to see it here, but then the competition is quite tough in the below 10 lakh rupee segment, as indirectly suggested by GTO sir. Also, one can't predict the price if it is sold with as good build quality as that of the international models.